


The Last of the Kindergarten

by jessaverant



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst Origin, Background Rosepearl, F/F, Feral Amethyst, First Meetings, Gen, Headcanon, Motherly Rose Quartz, Post-Gem War, Pre-Series, Well kind of foreground Rosepearl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 06:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13025319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessaverant/pseuds/jessaverant
Summary: The remaining Crystal Gems find their newest and smallest member. | Amethyst origin headcanon with a lot of post-war flirtatious Rosepearl for good measure.





	The Last of the Kindergarten

"Just _look_ at this place. It's _dreadful_!" A pair of thin, pale arms wrapped themselves around a much larger one, warmer and pinker and stronger. The voice reflected off the abandoned canyon walls, repeating back and forth to each other in the stale silence.

"Hush, my dear," the thicker pair of arms said in a low, warm voice. "Garnet, what are we to do here?" Another pair of arms, dark red and lined with lean muscle.

"There is something here for us to find," the arms replied, and they bent up to remove the dark spectacles over the eyes of the body they belonged to. "I'll know it when I see it. Just stay close." Garnet took a quick glance around before replacing the spectacles on her face, stepping off the warp pad and leaping down to the dusty earth below. Behind her, Pearl continued to cling to Rose Quartz with a vengeance, eyeing the abandoned Prime Kindergarten with distaste.

"I don't know why _we_ had to come," Pearl murmured. Rose, her fingers intertwined with Pearl's, just used her free hand to pat their conjoined ones and smiled.

"We _are_ a team," Rose said, and she gently tugged on Pearl's arm to get her to start moving. Pearl just clicked her tongue and allowed herself to be dragged down to the Kindergarten's floor.

"This way," Garnet called from ahead, rounding the far corner. Pearl found she couldn't tear her eyes away from the multitude of holes littering the canyon walls, even with the chilling memories they brought to her mind's eye.

" _Stars above_ , I hate this place," she muttered. She turned to Rose with pleading eyes. " _Please_ can we go back to the Temple?"

"Now, now, just don't look at them," Rose said gently. "All of these Quartzes are long gone." A shudder ran through Pearl's form, and she clung tighter.

"I know," Pearl said. "That doesn't make me feel better." She drew her face forward but allowed her eyes to stray into her peripheral, unable to stop analyzing each and every hole they wandered past. Where was this Quartz? And this one? Was this one that came to our side? Was this one we damaged beyond repair? Was that one corrupted?

"My Pearl," Rose purred, and that pulled Pearl out of her racing thoughts and turned to the aforementioned Gem. "Your fretting is not going to make anything change here. We should continue on the course to see if Garnet needs us."

"You are certainly being liberal with the endearments today, _my darling,_ " Pearl said, and Rose Quartz let out a bubbling laugh.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better. I know how you are about this place," Rose offered, and she gestured wide to the walls surrounding them. "We haven't come here in five hundred years; surely, Garnet has a good reason to come today, don't you think?"

As if on cue, both Gems stopped as they heard Garnet's low tenor carry over on a warm breeze. It was coming from around the coming corner, where Garnet has disappeared a few minutes earlier. Whatever she was saying, she was saying it low enough that no words carried.

"Is she.... talking to someone?" Pearl inquired. Pearl and Rose turned to one another, and Rose's eyes lit up in curiosity.

"Let's go see!" she declared, and released her hold on Pearl to use both hands to lift her skirt and hurry around the corner to see for herself. Pearl crossed her arms, annoyed at losing Rose's touch, but followed, curious herself.

Rose rounded the corner and stopped short, a gasp escaping her lips. She brought a hand to her mouth in surprise, her starred eyes widening in delight.

Garnet was crouching near a boulder where a small creature was perched atop. She had a mane of wild, white-lavender hair, clipped to the shoulders, but fluffed in every direction. She was thickset with thick arms and legs, squat but bulging with untrained muscle. She wore a simple light pink tunic, which heightened the glow of her violet-colored skin. Her eyes were big and bright and trained on Garnet, hanging onto each and every word she spoke.

_An amethyst._ Pearl had finally caught up and was standing beside Rose, slack-jawed.

"Is that--?" Pearl stammered, and Rose placed both of her hands on her chest.

"It is," Rose confirmed, and Pearl pursed her lips into a thin line.

"Is she... _hers?_ "

"Yes," Rose confirmed again. "Look at what she is wearing. Standard issue for newly formed Quartz soldiers on colonies." Her eyes trailed to the tiny Gem's chest, where a dark pink panel in a diamond shape stood out from the rest of her simple garment.

Garnet, who had been speaking in a low voice to the amethyst, finally glanced up. The amethyst's gaze followed and she jumped in surprise, as if she hadn't noticed them arrive.

"Who are you?" the amethyst asked, and Rose chuckled at how high her voice was for a Quartz.

"These are the friends I was telling you about," Garnet said. "We're here to help you."

"Why, hello," Rose said, and she knelt beside the rock where the amethyst was curled up. "It's nice to meet you, little Amethyst. Are you alone here?" The amethyst looked at Garnet, who nodded slowly, and then turned back to Rose.

"Yes," she said, uncurling her legs slowly. Rose noted she was barefoot; unusual for a newly-emerged Quartz. "At least, I've never seen anyone else here. It's just been me and all these great boulders." She gestured to the boulder she was sitting on, and the others that littered the ground around them.

"How long have you been here by yourself?" Rose asked as Pearl finally approached them. She placed a hand on Rose's shoulder but said nothing, just eyeing the amethyst wearily. The amethyst gave an honest shrug.

"Dunno. A while." She kicked a leg out. "There was no one here when I popped outta my hole. But there was a lot of that," she said, and she pointed up. Near the top of the canyon walls were huge pockmarks; entire chunks that had been taken out and fallen to the ground. It had happened during one of the final assaults during the war, an assault that had been against Homeworld and wildly successful in pushing out most of their forces for good.

"A lot of that up there was still smoking when I came out," the amethyst supplied. "So, uh, I guess however long ago that happened is how long I've been here."

"Five hundred years, then," Pearl said, breaking her silence. She placed a hand over her mouth. "You emerged right before--"

"She's not corrupted," Garnet interjected, standing up. Rose continued to kneel, and reached out a hand to the amethyst. The smaller Gem considered the hand but didn't take it, instead staring up at Garnet.

"What do you mean she's not corrupted? Look at her!" Pearl cried, gesturing downwards. "She's so... small." Garnet crossed her arms.

"It's not corruption. She must have come out afterwards, but very shortly afterwards. My guess is the vibrations of the Song exacerbated the soil and that's what prompted her to finally emerge." Garnet looked upwards at the huge holes in the canyon, the ones that had provided the boulders at their feet. She looked back down at the amethyst to see her frowning upwards.

"Don't mind them," Rose said, her voice gentle and kind. "I think you're just wonderful, Amethyst. My name is Rose Quartz." The amethyst looked from Garnet, to Pearl, down to Rose, who's arm was still outstretched. The amethyst tentatively reached out her own arm, and placed her much smaller hand in Rose's larger one.

"Rose Quartz," she repeated back to the Crystal Gems. "I'm Amethyst. You're a Quartz, too?"

"Oh, yes," Rose said, her smile widening. "I was made in someplace very similar to this. It's far, far away from here, though. Do you know where you are?" Amethyst shook her head, causing her hair to ruffle even more. Pearl tightened her grip on Rose's shoulder. "You are on a planet named Earth. We live here, too. And we would love it if you came to live with us, Amethyst." Pearl blanched and shot a look at Garnet, who's expression remained unreadable. When she found she had no support, Pearl sighed and crossed her arms once more.

"Live where?" Amethyst finally asked, eyes flicking between Pearl and Garnet. She settled once more on Rose, retracting her hand to her chest. Rose caught a violet glint from underneath her tunic.

"With Pearl," she gestured upwards, "Garnet," she gestured sideways, "and myself," and she brought her hands to her chest. "We live in a wonderful place by the ocean. A place where we can teach you about yourself. How does that sound?" Amethyst pursed her lips and looked down at her hands, as if unsure.

"I--I dunno," she stammered, still staring at her hands. "I feel like I hafta--stay here."

"That's a natural feeling," Garnet said, crouching back down to meet Amethyst's gaze. "This has been your home for some time." Amethyst's eyes - large, round, bright, shining with dark purple irises - shot between Rose and Garnet in apprehension. She largely ignored Pearl, who was standing above them, lips drawn into a line.

"I guess," Amethyst said slowly. "But I mean I feel like--like somethin' is comin'. For me." At that, Rose and Garnet exchanged a glance. Pearl's stance loosened and her face fell.

Even all alone, for five hundred years in an abandoned Earth kindergarten, Homeworld's programming held strong.

"Also a natural feeling," Rose said, reaching out towards Amethyst's face experimentally. Amethyst flinched and hunched her shoulders, but didn't move back. Rose gently brushed a tuft of unruly hair aside from Amethyst's face, so she could get a better look. "But no one is coming back to this place. Not anymore." Amethyst glanced upwards once more, hands wrung in her lap.

"Well, technically," Pearl stated, causing all three Gems to turn to her, "we came for you.... Amethyst."

"That is true," Garnet said, and a rare smile bloomed on her cheeks. "We did come here specifically to find you, Amethyst."

"You did?" Amethyst said, seemingly surprised. Her cheeks flushed briefly, and she allowed Rose to place a warm hand on her cheek.

"We did. Garnet had a vision of something here, that would need us," Rose said softly. "And that was of you, Amethyst. We've come to take you home." At that, Rose leaned forward and wrapped both arms around the much smaller Gem. Amethyst froze for a moment, before relaxing into the warm grip, wrapping too-short arms around Rose's neck. Rose then stood, lifting Amethyst into the air with her, cuddling her in her arms. Amethyst buried her face into Rose's thick mane, still hanging onto her neck.

"You don't have to be alone anymore, Amethyst," Rose whispered into Amethyst's wild hair. "We'll _always_ be here for you." She placed a hand on Amethyst's back and nodded to Garnet and Pearl, who followed behind her back towards the warp pad. Amethyst just made a sound somewhat like a grunt in reply.

"Come, my wonderful little Amethyst. Let's go home."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a lot of headcanon fics about how the CG met Garnet (before 'The Answer') and a lot of fics regarding Rose and Pearl's meeting, but I never see anything about the details of Amethyst being found all alone in the Prime Kindergarten! So I wrote one.


End file.
